From the euro crisis to a speculative wine hype?

“The interest of investors for high-level European wines is noticeable”, John Authers says during his visit at the London International Wine Fair, declaring: “Wine as property asset does not compete or collide with shares or bonds. Wine is as safe a harbor as gold.”

„In business and economics sciences, there is a law called Gesham’s law. It is about alternative investments for the decade to come. And wine is indeed attractive for investors”, the former hedge funds economist and author of the book SWAG (Silver Wine Art Gold). “In simple words: bad money makes investors look for good money. In this case, the bad thing is the euro currency, and the good thing is to have propery assets such as wine.”

Hennig Thoresen, CEO at the Bordeaux Winebank and managing director of the 50 Million Wine Growth Fund, is in contrast more reserved. Although he got many inquiries concerning the volatility of the euro, above all from Asia, Mr. Thoresen says: “We recommend the investors to stay calm. We have as much as a 10 years’ horizon, and I don’t believe the situation within the euro zone to influence the investments on a long-term basis. Thus, there is no reason to overstock the market with investments into wines.”

Even though, a slight increase in investments into wine is registered at the moment. This is substantiated by the increase of the LIV-EX (leading index at the London Wine Exchange), which increased by 22 percent, compared to the same point of time of the past year. In the same period of time, the FTSE100 (Britain’s most important stock index), achieved to increase by as few as 11 percent. (red.yoopress)